Second Scheduled Service, aka B16 - 2016 Honda Pilot Long-Term Road Test

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Second Scheduled Service, aka B16 - 2016 Honda Pilot Long-Term Road Test

Our 2016 Honda Pilot needed its B16 oil change, tire change and rear differential fluid service, so I drove it over to Hardin Honda to get it handled.

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kirkhilles1

Thanks for posting the breakdown and splitting it out. Nice to know. I know everyone is sick of my "its too expensive" bit, so I'll leave it alone. It IS kinda crazy that Honda is comfortable with an every-other oil change for the filter, ESPECIALLY as the "15400-PLM-A02" are VERY low quality filters that are Fram outsourced with cardboard. This is in contrast to the "A01" filters that were Filtech and very HIGH quality.

Otherwise, this is what it is. You pay $4 for washers, $20 for the fluid (not bad as Amazon has it being $30 for 1 gallon) and $75 for a simple drain/refill. $80 isn't awful since it has a tire rotation too, but I wouldn't be happy about paying $185 and getting $12.25 worth of oil that's "0W-20 Oil Bulk". High quality stuff there...

diondi

kirkhilles1 said:

Otherwise, this is what it is. You pay $4 for washers, $20 for the fluid (not bad as Amazon has it being $30 for 1 gallon) and $75 for a simple drain/refill. $80 isn't awful since it has a tire rotation too, but I wouldn't be happy about paying $185 and getting $12.25 worth of oil that's "0W-20 Oil Bulk". High quality stuff there...

Actually, the Honda 0W20 is made by Conoco-Phillips (Kendall, Motorcraft) and is well-regarded by the BITOG guys as being pretty good, so it is good stuff, at least in this case. The Honda, Toyota and Mazda 0W20 oils are good oils and not second-class compared to Mobil 1 or Pennzoil or whatever big name brand you prefer. These are all synthetic oils, by the way.

What I'm more concerned about is the 15K mile service of the rear diff - I know it's torque vectoring and all that, but that seems an awful short interval to me. Adding a $100 service every 15K is not cheap, and I know I'd be looking to do that myself if I could to save on the labor costs.

bankerdanny

$2.45/qt for 0-20 synthetic from a dealer is a smoking good deal. Many dealers would use individual quarts of manufacturer branded oil at double that cost. I paid $23 for 5 quarts of Castrol 10-30 synthetic from O'Reilly on Saturday when I changed the oil in my Saab.

schen72

None of these intervals are set in stone. Honda uses an oil life monitor, so the intervals are dictated by many variables, such as driving style, number of cold starts, etc. On my Acuras (with torque-vectoring) I went 30k miles before the "6" popped up on the OLM.

ebeaudoin

You state that you are particular to do the differential fluid changes on AWD/4WD vehicles and I must applaud you. In the three years that I've worked in car sales, I can't tell you how many times I've heard people saying "I'll hold off on doing that service" to any number of things, with differential fluid being one and transmission fluid another. I know, I know, service advisors are Kings and Queens of the Upsell. However, all too often I hear people passing on necessary, routine maintenance.

s197gt

i generally follow maintenance guidelines as recommended by the OEM.

having said that... does anyone know anyone who has said, "yeah, had to get my differential replaced... wished I would have changed the fluid out more often."

no. you don't. you might have heard someone who claims a buddy of theirs had an issue but it is extremely rare; so rare it is more likely than not a manufacturing flaw/one-off (or driver abuse) and not a maintenance issue.

transmissions, differentials, spark plugs, etc are things that the first owner really doesn't need to maintain because most owners will have long sold the car before those components start acting up (if ever).

texases

Dan - what are the footnotes to the rear diff fluid change listing on the page shown in your post?

allthingshonda

The differential fluid change on Honda/Acura vehicles are frequent and expensive but as the editor said it is a very complicated piece of equipment. Maintenance Minder also requests service earlier than needed to keep the owner from making extra trips to the dealer. In this case it may have indicated rear diff service since it needed an oil change anyway instead of waiting another 5,000 miles for the service.

thecardoc3

bankerdanny said:

I paid $23 for 5 quarts of Castrol 10-30 synthetic from O'Reilly on Saturday when I changed the oil in my Saab.

10W30? What year, model and engine?

longtimelurker

I am still wondering - as I was at your last change - why they are charging you for 5 quarts of oil when it takes 5.7 quarts with a filter change and 5.4 without.

g35buf

The rear diff fluid changes on the old (and new) Honda VTM unit are really simple for 90% of DIYers..I've done a ton of Honda rear diff changes. So real world, this service would cost in materials $30 for the rear diff Honda fluid (of which you'd have some left over for the next changes), $25 for a full syn 5 quart jug at WalMart and $5-6 for an OEM filter on eBay/Amazon. Call it $65-$70. Not bad really but DIY dependent...Still, if the dealer took close to 2 hours, you could stay in the driveway or garage and be done in an hour or less even with the rear diff change...

masternc

allthingshonda said:

The differential fluid change on Honda/Acura vehicles are frequent and expensive but as the editor said it is a very complicated piece of equipment. Maintenance Minder also requests service earlier than needed to keep the owner from making extra trips to the dealer. In this case it may have indicated rear diff service since it needed an oil change anyway instead of waiting another 5,000 miles for the service.

That is correct, though not always. My first rear diff service was around 15k. I am over 33k and have not had it reappear again. My last oil minder request just before 30k did not ask for the rear diff service. To be sure, I did have a mechanic prematurely change my oil last November (they thought I asked for an oil change, when I hadn't - I still had 70% oil life), so I might have gotten the "B16" request last time otherwise.

I will say, however, that's not a bad price for a B service. Mine was $100 out in Delaware (out the door price). An A service was only $50 (compared to some independent mechanics that wanted to charge $60 or more for the oil change).

ricky59

My B16 service cost me $153.34 at Shearer Honda in Rutland, Vt...............$90.40 for labor........$58.82 for parts......$4.12 for tax.